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The Hunger Games


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Alright film - internal logic made simple for the target demographic ...

 

Paced well such that I wasn't watching the cinematography with an eagle eye (if I had one in the first place) - did notice some interesting bokeh 'glimmering' around the edges of objects in focus and the BG that I'd like to understand more.

 

I was dreading that the film would be all teal and orange, the poster was pushed certainly in the warm direction - timing was relatively neutral, maybe a shift here and there between the districts and the Capital.

 

Initial shakey cam annoyance cleared after about 5mins.

 

wink.gif

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Initial shakey cam annoyance cleared after about 5mins.

 

wink.gif

 

Why does Hollywood refuse to invest in tri-pods?

 

R,

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Well, I went and broke down to see what is ostensibly a kids' film. Still, it was entertaining for what it was. It was fun to see Frederick Brown's "Arena" sci-fi short story reborn for a newer generation. Still, I couldn't help but wonder where Captain Kirk and the Gorn were, and even though the plot and story were lifted directly from older sci-fi libraries, it was kind of fun to see it reborn.

 

I had planned on tearing into it, accusing it of being a rip off of Soylent Green, Adam Strange, Star Trek, Logan's Run and other stuff, but there was a unique enough flourish placed in this iteration of the basic story that I thought it quite original.

 

A couple of things; I didn't quite understand the full back-story, and the buildup, as noted by Variety, took an awful long time. The action is sporatic, but it's actually a very smart film in spite of a few caterings to the younger demographic. I think film makers who make alleged block busters for older audiences should take notes.

 

Just my two bits.

 

The key scene and thrust of the film, done some three decades prior; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVpi80iWFeE

 

On shakey-cam; I'm pretty exhausted of the style. I remember when it became the big thing back in 1986. SNL even did a parody skit about a company that sold tractors using the style. Here we are over 20 years later, and a lot of you pros are still opting to use this shooting style?

 

Just... why? ... :(

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On shakey-cam; I'm pretty exhausted of the style. I remember when it became the big thing back in 1986. SNL even did a parody skit about a company that sold tractors using the style. Here we are over 20 years later, and a lot of you pros are still opting to use this shooting style?

 

Just... why? ... :(

 

I personally hate it. Except for when doing an actors POV shot as they look around a corner or down a street, then it should be hand held. Because as we all know....when a human looks at something, the image is all shaky.

 

R,

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I personally hate it. Except for when doing an actors POV shot as they look around a corner or down a street, then it should be hand held. Because as we all know....when a human looks at something, the image is all shaky.

 

R,

I can understand POVs, but, well, I don't know. I think I've had enough of young film makers trying to break in with "edgy" shots by shaking the lens back and forth while zoomed up on some subject.

 

I thought that style wouldn't last beyond whatever product I first saw it used on way back in college. But it's never left. Now it's just down right annoying as anything.

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For me (over cooked) handheld doesn't mimic the saccade movement on human vision at all - it serves more as a cue that the footage is real time / gathered news / or whats that term - ah yes 'immediate' ...

 

rolleyes.gif

 

Anyway, like I said after a few minutes I was no longer bothered by it - so much so I couldn't say if it was still there or it had actually mellowed out.

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For me (over cooked) handheld doesn't mimic the saccade movement on human vision at all - it serves more as a cue that the footage is real time / gathered news / or whats that term - ah yes 'immediate' ...

 

rolleyes.gif

 

Anyway, like I said after a few minutes I was no longer bothered by it - so much so I couldn't say if it was still there or it had actually mellowed out.

For me it's like at first they were selling perfume, or coffee or something that was "intimate", and I figured it would last a couple of years, then fade.

 

But it's like, it hasn't. And it's gotten on my nerves, so much to the point where I can't watch new films by "up and coming" film makers because they use it all the time. :angry:

 

I wonder what Ansel Adams photos would have been like if he had used "shakey cam" for his stills.

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Yeh, we had a group get the giggles when one of them decided to cough and hiccup at the same time - she then proceeded to vomit in her cup. I screwed up and threw my ticket stub at the back of the head of the first one that dared to pull out her cellphone, she turned around expecting to see someone of a similar age but instead she got me smiling back at her a few rows back - she got the message without any further prompting.

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This brings up another thing that drives me nuts, why does everyone in the future dress like they just stepped out of Acropolis? One would THINK in a thousand years, clothing might have advanced a LITTLE bit. How about fibers that turn logos into interactive wearable billboards or swirling artwork patterns that wash across the fabric. Back to the Future II seems to be the only movie I can remember where clothing technology kept up with the times. B)

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This brings up another thing that drives me nuts, why does everyone in the future dress like they just stepped out of Acropolis? One would THINK in a thousand years, clothing might have advanced a LITTLE bit. How about fibers that turn logos into interactive wearable billboards or swirling artwork patterns that wash across the fabric. Back to the Future II seems to be the only movie I can remember where clothing technology kept up with the times. B)

 

I get you on that, they always look so cheesy.

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Saw this finally, aside from the disturbing subject matter and the incredibly fake looking "dog creatures" not bad at all.

 

Can't say as I missed 3D or digital.

 

R,

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I liked it, except for the incredibly irritating camerawork in the first 10 minutes.. I like handheld work, particularly when the camera is roving around, pulling out details and looks, but when the camera is active like that, the absolute last thing you should do is shake the camera. In the opening minutes, the camera never settled on anything long enough or still enough to see what I was supposed to be looking at. There was also an unacceptably high number of soft shots, I would imagine as a result of the 1st AC never being sure what the camera was pointing at.

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I liked it, except for the incredibly irritating camerawork in the first 10 minutes.. I like handheld work, particularly when the camera is roving around, pulling out details and looks, but when the camera is active like that, the absolute last thing you should do is shake the camera. In the opening minutes, the camera never settled on anything long enough or still enough to see what I was supposed to be looking at. There was also an unacceptably high number of soft shots, I would imagine as a result of the 1st AC never being sure what the camera was pointing at.

 

 

Have to agree about the initial scenes. Very disconcerting, found it hard to focus on anything.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm curious as to how much of the forest scenes were artificial light vs. just the sun and bounces. Anyone opinions?

 

There were literally four or six people in the entire theater I was at on a Friday night...that place is gonna be closing soon...sad.

Edited by Aaron Solomon
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